


Reunions

by SoulOfAFangirl684



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A little drabble-ish, Awkwardness, F/M, Family Reunions, Next Generation, One-Shot, Past Connections, Talk of Muggle/Magic Coexistence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 06:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18463352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulOfAFangirl684/pseuds/SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: After a surprise call from his cousin, Harry reconnects with more than one old acquaintance.





	Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I know the whole ‘Harry and Dudley meet again as adults’ plotline has already been done to death… But I was struck with this semi-random idea while rereading the chapter in Deathly Hallows where they say their goodbyes. And I learned a long time ago that when inspiration strikes, it’s best to just let it take you wherever it wants to go.

“James, Lily, Albus! Let’s go!” Harry shouted up the stairs before turning back to Ginny. They stood together in the foyer of their home, one looking considerably more nervous than the other.

“Harry, breathe,” Ginny said with a laugh. “What are the kids supposed to think if they come down and see you about to have a heart attack?”

Her husband made an effort to smile weakly. “I’m being ridiculous, right?”

“Well, considering you saved basically the entire world by the time you were seventeen…” she teased, straightening the collar on his shirt, “just a little. Besides, you said you and your cousin parted on good terms, didn’t you?”

Harry tried valiantly to keep his expression from twisting into a grimace. “ _Better_ terms… I’m not sure I’d call them _good_ …”

Thus was the source of the savior of the Wizarding World’s anxiety: Dudley Dursley. The two cousins had not spoken directly since they were seventeen—on the eve of Harry’s departure. Harry had been informed, of course, when the Dursleys had been released from their magical protective custody, but neither party had made an effort to contact the other. On Harry’s part at least, he wasn’t sure what he would have said. And then—out of the blue—a single telephone call had put an end to all the years of silence. Dudley, sounding just as nervous as Harry now felt, had found their number in the phone book and wanted to know if their families could meet.

“I know you’ve had enough of prophesies and fate,” Ginny went on, “but it makes you think. It’s some sort of luck that he decided he wants to meet now. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to contact us even if he’d wanted to.”

This was true. The Potter family had recently moved to a Muggle neighborhood, in a house complete with a telephone. They hadn’t expected to be using it much, but Lily had become fast friends with another little girl a few houses down, so it was nice to have.

By this time, their two youngest children had made it to the foyer and were slipping on their shoes. Ginny sighed and turned back to the stairs.

“James Sirius Potter, if you don’t get down here this instant—!”

She didn’t have to finish her threat. The rest of the family watched as James came bounding down the stairs, Fred close on his heels. Both boys wore wide mischievous grins, and Harry smiled fondly at them.

“I don’t even want to know what you two were scheming up there,” said Ginny, ushering Fred into the living room so he could Floo home.

His family’s antics helped to soothe Harry’s nerves a bit. Whatever came of the reunion today, he would always have this to return to.

**…………**

The sun was high in the sky when the Potters arrived at the designated meeting place. It was a wide open field that Muggle families often frequented for picnics. Indeed, they weren’t alone on such a nice day. Before their rental car had even stopped long enough to be put into park, the three Potter children were jumping out to race each other to the nearest table. Their parents didn’t even bother to call out a reprimand.

Harry and Ginny followed at a much slower pace. Honestly, a bit slower than was natural, but Ginny stayed loyally by his side.

As they neared the table, Harry saw that his children had stopped at a table to speak to a pair of children who looked nothing like Dudley. Before they were close enough to hear their conversation, the five rushed off, laughing. Harry saw one of them hold up a Frisbee and they all scattered. He had to smile. Ginny nudged him wordlessly, and when he turned back around, Dudley Dursley had come into view.

His cousin looked about as hesitant as he was, but Harry made an effort to smile as he stepped forward to shake his hand. Dudley had aged surprisingly well. He was as large as ever, but most if it was still the muscle he’d put on in his later teenage years. First and foremost, Harry noted that his cousin looked happy, and he supposed that was the most important thing.

“It’s good to see you again, Harry.”

“Yeah, how have you been?”

They exchanged pleasantries, and Harry introduced Ginny. “I’d let you meet the kids, too,” he said with a laugh, “but they seem to have run off.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry. My wife went to go round them up.” Indeed, he pointed out into the field, and they all turned to see all five children being led back this way by an elegant-looking Asian woman. As they drew closer, Harry started to think she looked familiar. And as the recognition set in, he felt his eyes widen.

More introductions were exchanged, and he remained speechless throughout them all. At last, Dudley’s cousin and wife were the only two left, and they turned to each other, equal parts embarrassed and awkward.

“Hello, Harry.”

“Hey, Cho…”

Dudley looked between the two of them and seemed to notice something was odd. He turned back to the children. “Uh, why don’t you all go back to your game?”

They didn’t need much coaxing, and then Dudley turned back to Harry and Cho. “So… I take it you two know each other?”

“We went to school together,” Cho said haltingly.

Dudley laughed, misinterpreting his wife’s discomfort. “Oh yeah. I forgot you’re kind of a big deal in your world, huh?”

Harry and Cho smiled appeasingly and the two pairs settled down at the table their kids had vacated. She’d clearly been caught just as off-guard as he was, but if Cho didn’t want to explain their past… acquaintanceship, then neither would he. And yet, this would be a very awkward meeting indeed if it went unaddressed completely. Ginny, saint that she was, seemed to realize this and quickly engaged Dudley in a rather banal interrogation regarding his job. Harry couldn’t help being relieved that his cousin had always been a little thick. Cho gave her husband a small, fond smile.

“So, how did you two meet anyway?”

“Actually, I was the communications liaison for the Dursleys the year they were in hiding. I carried messages between their world and ours. For example, I handled all the paperwork for your uncle’s leave of absence from work, and Dudley’s withdrawal from formal schooling.” She blushed at his surprised look. “I’d just graduated, but my parents had connections in the ministry… you know, before it was taken over.”

“That had to be a dangerous job, though,” he said, a little aghast, mentally adding Cho’s name to the list of people who’d risked their lives for him.

“There were a few close calls… I got to be very good at keeping my mouth shut.”

They were both quiet for a moment, each remembering another time, so long ago, when someone _hadn’t_ kept their mouth shut. Dudley, just feet away, remained oblivious, and Harry had to wonder if Ginny had silently cast the _Muffliato_ charm over them.

“I guess in a way I was still trying to make up for what happened to the DA,” she admitted very quietly.

Harry grimaced. “It wasn’t your fault Marietta blabbed. I know the way I acted towards you must’ve made you feel like it was. That feels so insignificant now.”

“It wasn’t, though.” She leaned forward suddenly, earnest. “What you were doing with the DA… It was amazing. I wasn’t there for the Battle of Hogwarts, but… I’m sure what the Army learned during those sessions saved a lot of their lives.”

They were quiet again, and Ginny seemed to sense that what needed to be said had been said. They had both moved on.

“So you two fell in love when you were just teenagers?” Ginny asked, inviting their spouses into the conversation. “That’s sweet.”

Cho blushed. “Well… It didn’t happen that fast…”

“It started out as a learning experience,” Dudley supplied. “I couldn’t go to school that year, so I had Cho teach me about your world in all my spare time.”

“And I learned more about the Muggle world. My parents were always respectful enough towards Muggles, but wizards tend to talk about them like they’re some sort of primitive version of ourselves. I guess because we know about them, but they don’t know about us. Personally, I think we stopped learning from them too soon.” Cho blushed again after her little speech, but it left Harry with a lot to think about.

The Muggle world had its own share of problems, but Harry didn’t have much trouble seeing what had appealed to her at the time. Perhaps he was a bit biased, but he couldn’t think of any non-magic threat that compared to Voldemort.

“So do you two live around here?” Ginny asked.

Cho nodded. “Just a few streets down. It’s been… refreshing, living mostly magic-free all these years. But now…”

“The twins turned eleven this year,” Dudley explained. “So we’ll know by the end of the summer if they’ll be off to Hogwarts.”

It didn’t seem as strange for Dudley to say the name as it was for Harry to hear it coming out of his cousin’s mouth. He understood suddenly that this was the true purpose behind this reunion. He masked his surprise with a smile. “Lily too. She’s ecstatic.”

“We thought it might be good for them to know someone else before they arrived.”

“We don’t know that they’ll be accepted, Dudley.” Cho’s words were almost too quiet to be heard, but Dudley’s warm smile seemed to freeze on his face.

“You’re right, of course.”

Ginny did her best to be subtle as she met Harry’s look and raised her eyebrows. They snapped back to attention almost comically when Cho addressed them again.

“The twins haven’t shown any sign of magical ability in eleven years.” Her words were a little stiff.

“That’s unusual, right?” Dudley asked, clearly trying to make an effort to support his wife. But they could see he was torn. Harry got the feeling his cousin wouldn’t mind having witches for daughters.

“Not necessarily,” said Ginny. “They look happy and healthy. They might not have had any need for magic up to this point.”

Now Cho’s smile was stiff. She stood up, and Dudley followed her lead, though his smile was more apologetic. “Well, we should probably round up the girls and head home. It was nice seeing you again, Harry.”

They said their goodbyes, promising to do this again soon, and Harry and Ginny watched them go. Ginny leaned her head against his shoulder. “That’s gotta be tough,” she sympathized.

“Yeah, but half-bloods usually favor the magic side, don’t they? I always figured it was the dominant gene or something.”

“I don’t know the exact statistics; you’d have to ask Hermione. But I’m willing to bet they’ll get their Hogwarts letters.” She looked pointedly at her husband. “Dudley may be a Muggle, but there’s magic in his family, too.”

Harry was quiet as their children ran back to them. He couldn’t help feeling a little sad that Cho had come to associate all the bad things that had happened to her with magic. He could only wish the best for them, whatever might come next.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those one-shots I wasn’t really intending to write, but I had some unexpected free time when a class was cancelled. For some reason, during the scene where Dudley says goodbye to Harry, the knowledge that Cho Chang ends up marrying an unspecified Muggle popped up from my memory… and this was born.  
> I know it never states anywhere that Cho goes on to totally reject magic, and it's reading into it quite a bit to assume so just because she marries a Muggle. (I'm sure it's quite unlikely, actually.) I guess you could say I don't have a very optimistic view of her character.


End file.
